My 6.5 yr son is home from school today. He has a cold and had a slight temperature this morning and waged a successful campaign with me to stay at home today. By 10:30am I realised I'd been scammed. He was up and about jumping and dancing with his little sister and as happy as Larry.

My Mum was (and still is) a prison nurse so she was always really tough on me. I needed to be near death (or feel like it) before she'd let me stay at home so I've always been a little softer on my children.

My question is, where do you draw the line at letting kids stay at home? Especially if you are trying to hold down a job and have to take sick leave to look after them? I am heading back to work next month so it won't be so easy for me to let him stay at home.

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I work at school and if one of our girls is sick that means I am also away from work so they have to be pretty sick, have something that school sends us home anyway - eg conjunctivitis, anything contagious, or if I also feel I need a day home sick myself! Sometimes the decision is easier to make like for chickenpox, or if they have had diarrhoea or vomited - then I follow the 48 hour after the last incident rule! Sometimes they and I just need a mental health day! - a quiet change of pace day to recharge our batteries when there's not much physically wrong with us!

Being sick is no fun and sharing it with others is a No No. Keeping them home when they are sick is a good thing, but not usualy for adults sanity. We adults usually get what the children have and vice versa.

i got sick of my toddler getting sick so i pulled her out of creche completely (also have a newborn in the home and winter + toddler and constant creche bugs = not pretty ) . not happy though when picking up m eldest from the same creche and seeing my toddler's teacher obviously sick and still at work grrrrrrrr...the sick test for me other than the obvious i.e fever, vomiting, is the green snot test.

Here's an out there idea that I picked up reading one of Miss 10's novels - it's called the tickle test. Basically you tickle your child - if they laugh they go to school. If they don't, they're genuinely sick.

I still don't know... I have send Son to school on several occassions, only to be called by the school that he has vomited or something like that. And I have kept him home on other times and he seemed perfectly fine.

The only thing I can do is ban any form of entertainment, just to make sure that is not the motivation for the sicky. So stay in bed untill noon (only allowed to read a book), and then do homework or other educational stuff that he might have missed out on.

our litmus test is 'are you too sick for rugby?'. They hate to miss games or practices, and if they've missed school they also miss rugby. If they're prepared to stay in bed until lunch time knowing that they won't be going to practice and/or the game that week I'm pretty sure they're sick. But I'd always err on the side of caution. As a SAHM at the moment it's an easy call for me to make but I've had that many classes over the years where I've watched the sick kids come in and spread the bugs, and then it's passed to me despite my precautions.

definitely fevers means stay at home at really if they also show visible signs of being sick. Most of the time we send our children to school and all they do is spread the germs. It's the same in the office... However old we are we always think we should just suck it up unless we are on deaths bed... I'm not really sure who started this philiosophy but it had its disadvantages.

I get sucked in fairly often which is ironic considering I'm a nurse. But if they get too active, it's into school uniform and off to school, it doesn't matter if it's lunchtime.

It's often really hard to decide on the degree of sickness for me too - there's a fine line between taking a day off to prevent taking a week off. I often get it wrong both ways.

It's strange - I had to be nearly dead before I wanted to stay home from school, and when I did I pretty much got to do what I wanted. I guess my mother knew I must be sick if I didn't want to go to school.

I think if they have a fever, chesty cough & greeny snot they should stay home. I know sometimes when I'm sick I feel worse first thing in the morning but after being up & about you start to feel refreshed, especially when your on the mend.

Basically if they have a fever, or a flemy cough or a green nose they stay at home. And if they are at home, they HAVE to have a sleep or rest in bed for a couple of hours...If I kept them home for a runny nose or a *normal* cough they would be home ALL winter....

Thanks for all your comments everyone. My son was a lot healthier this morning when he woke up and I feel that I made a good decision to keep him at home. He was devastated when I told him he couldn't go to his Street Dance class that afternoon though! Hopefully that sends a message to him to think really hard about how sick he really is. My Aunty, who teaches at a primary school, was really supportive of me keeping him home. She sees far too many kids sent to school when they're too sick to be there. Next time he won't be allowed to have the TV on though!!!

My daughter is only just starting kindy next week. However, if she had a bad runny nose or coughing a lot I would keep her home (if it was a lil cough n bit of a runny nose but nothing much I would send her). I would not want my daughter or another child to spread their little flu if it be little or big to others. It is hard to say no you stay home and have to get time off etc, so if it wasn't too bad I would send her (although I am a stay at home Mother with another 1yr old daughter). At the end of the day for me if my children are sick I would keep them home, there are so many germs out there you do not want to be the one who is spreading them around to the whole class/kindy. :DThey get that bit of rest they need without spreading it to their friends and then can go back the following day or so happy and healthy again :D

I bore the crap out of my sick kids. If they are not going to school, they are in bed, with books, or homework. Everything else is a no no. We all had a tummy bug a few weeks ago, that was the first time I allowed movie watching while at home sick, as they quite clearly were ill.

If my children have had temps, big or small, they stay home. If they are full up with nasty colds they stay home, if they are contagious, obvisously they stay home. However if they pull the 'im too sick for school', then recover an hour later, i have been known to drive to to school late with a note. Both my school aged kids have only tried that once each, and never did it again :P

I dont have school age kiddies yet but I agree with if temp over 38 they were to stay from daycare, or vomitting type stuff. The general cough cold I usually would still send them on their way. In the end as I have a 2.5yr daughter and 15mth old daughter I gave up work as youngest has battled high fevers since end Jan :( And we were in hospital last week with virus in the brain so am happy that I wasnt working as always feel guilty :(Best of luck Mummy!!! And Daddy!!! And all parents out there

But if they're sick they're sick. Let them stay home. Why send them to school to spread the bugs to another child? We're talking about 20 or more kids in a confined area, breathing in each others germs, coughing, sneezing, picking an wiping, then sharing equipement! And even if they're just a bit rundown and sniffley they're not going to learn much in that state. They're better off having some rest and going back healthy in a day or two. Their teacher has enough to deal with without coddling sick kids. Not to mention that you're spreading those germs to the teacher too. When s/he's off for a few days nursing that cold I hope nobody will be complaining about their kids having a relief teacher AGAIN.

I know it's hard when you're working as well. Bit of a lose-lose situation isn't it.

If the kid had fever of 38°C or more, then he stays at home. Or if he looks really sick...otherwise - To school! and then I need to be close to my cellular in case of a phone from school ...If I was at home, then I probably would have been more flexible with that, But when you are working full time job, you can not stay home so often even if it is for sick days.

Kids are pretty quick to bounce back from colds etc and I notice that they always seem a little worse at night and/or morning and yes, seem to bounce around during the day. If my children have had a temperature - big or little - then I keep them home as I see that temperature as a signal that their little bodies are trying to fight something off so I like to keep them warm and rested at home. Of course, no one wants their children exposed to bugs, colds & flus from other children if they can help it, so I take that into consideration as well. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home so that makes it easier for our family (that is a decision we made when we had kids- that one of us would always be at home for them when they were younger).

When we were kids if we were home sick we had to stay on our bed for the day. No TV only books and a drawing/writing activity.I would keep them home if they were contagious or too miserable. A good test would be to sent them back to bed with some books. It they stay on their bed or go to sleep they are too sick for school.

Sometimes i think it is better to keep them home for a day when they have a sniffle and are feeling a little but under the weather just so they dont get sicker and have to be off school longer. A snotty nose that cant be controlled is a definite stay home thing. I have been known to give them a shot of pamol in the morning and get them ready for school and see how they feel by the time it is time to leave. Its hard though even for SAHM mums, especially if you have plans. I feel bad if my kids are home sick and the younger one has to miss out on playgroup or i cant get to the gym.

Yes ditto Silverbabe - bore them into submission I say! My eldest was "iffy" yesterday and I'm sure he would have stayed home had he not been taking part in the zone cross country race in the afternoon.

I try to make it as boring as it can be when they are sick or I think they are faking so that they don't think its exciting to stay home lolThey were pretty good when I was working knowing I had to go to work. But now I'm home with baby they have been trying it on a little more. But they don't do it too often.

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